Functional

As an ex northerner, this has been my experience. While I'm catching larger bass than I did in NY, I find their fight sometimes a let down.

@Blue Raider Bob thank you for the confidence but those are DEFINITELY not mine 🤣. Just thought I'd include images.

Makes a lot of sense. Again I equate a lot of your pond management to fish tanks but in planted tanks typically you don't want to disturb the surface because it causes CO2 to escape. In planted tanks CO2 is actually injected for a lot of the vibrant tanks because the plants feed on it and thrive in it (with correct levels). With that though any imbalance you can get a HUGE algae bloom. (Dutch Style with heavy planting and heavy CO2 injection) I'd be curious if you added 1 or 2 small fountains in the middle or something to disturb the surface if you would avoid these algae blooms. Since your pond is basically a Walstad type planted tank I don't think you even come close to the risk of letting too much CO2 escape since you have rotting organic materials in your pond creating that for you. If you don't avoid the bloom with surface disturbance I'd almost guarantee it wouldn't be as bad or as long. (Walstad style tank with no filter, injection, etc.) Both beautiful but you need to know how to balance the nutrients. Given what you described I'd either add more plants to soak up the CO2 or get something to disturb the surface. Wish I was better at this hobby because these tanks can get really beautiful.

my friends used to give me crap for being an engineer and how we dont know what we are doing (they are guys who have to build or fix what we designed) but they always said I knew what I was doing so they always said I was "functional" for an engineer. Other nicknames are Champ from my parents (started through my 4 open heart surgeries when I was a kid, stuck to this day) and Pally from my wife. Was a joke kind of thing between her and her best friend and it stuck also. Could be called much worse.

Brother...I have no idea how you jump and do abrupt landings. Softly walking down steps made my insides feel like electric jello. Took a solid 2-3 weeks after it passed to not feel pain walking a little too roughly. I had one in my life that lasted 2 weeks from first sign of blood to passing. Easily the worst pain I've had in my life and I've had 4 open heart surgeries. First time I experienced morphine (heavenly until i found out I was allergic) and the first and only time I've asked for any type of pain meds. Right before I left they gave me anti-nausea meds due to the pain killers and they must have injected an air bubble. Due to my weird heart plumbing that air bubble went right to my head and gave me a mini stroke/TIA and kept me in the hospital for a week. Overall the entire kidney stone experience is a 0/10. I wish you speedy recovery and no repeat events. Water, flowmax and tart cherry juice (the real stuff, not the sugary stuff) helped pass it.

My highest success rate with HBF is a soft body (Scum Frog) and slightly bending the hooks up. Bend them just enough where they are resting on the body, not pushing into it like "factory" and not too far where it hangs up on everything. As for conditions I've caught them frequently in just about all conditions but the best has been when its humid enough to have my bubble trails stay after a retrieve. Saw that tip from Fish The Moment years ago and that's one of the few that has held up for me.

@Kayak Koz it is not difficult to mount a trolling motor to a Tracker. I put my Force onto mine and ran all new power cables from the bow to the stern and it wasn't trouble at all. Steel fish tape and some lube on the cables and they slid no problem up the starboard side. Your biggest challenge will be battery compartment space. I didn't go lithium and half regret it. I'm running two large batteries dedicated to my trolling motor for 24v (can do 36 volt but no room and its already a monster on 24v), one dedicated crank and lights and I had to mount one in my port tackle storage in the deck for electronics for a total of 4 batteries. You can likely do it better but that was my biggest challenge. Livewell may also be a slight issue if you plan to use it. Mine is a 2013 so I dont know if they got larger but AT BEST you can fit one persons bag limit in there. Even then I feel like it would be dicey keeping them alive for the day.

Love the show Alone. Pre kids I'd have no problem being alone (skill is another topic) for as long as it would take to win that show. With kids now it would be tough and I wouldn't willingly do it unless there was the money attached to it at the end that I could provide a better life for them. The sacrifice for that would be worth it, but not just for fun, it would feel selfish of me. I dont get the people who tap out within the first 2 weeks though unless something forced you into tapping out. I cant understand what they expected the show/experience to be about. I'd give the first season a pass since no one had anything to go off of, but seasons 2+ got to see first hand what was going to happen and what it would be like. Even naked and afraid people can starve themselves for 3 weeks and last with no shelter or clothes.

Palomar for braid SDJ for everything else (compliments of WRB) FG for main to leader

This is great. One of the big reasons I never pulled the trigger on the Mega360 was having to have 2 different brand units on my boat.

nature is often worse and what you are doing is just a part of the circle. It will be gone and food one way or the other. My timeline might be off but didnt you just add the extra plants last year? I wonder if now that the pond has had time to settle with its liner fixed and new plants its finally balancing out how it should be. Less extra nutrients in the water would grow less algae .

HA! Yes, I love when the lake has just a smidge of ice at the edges but a good snow fall on the ground. I could sit at a fire (inside or out) and stare at that for hours. Gray sky....perfect winter day. For reference...

That will be really nice and I'm excited for you. At least now you can enjoy that piece of land and lake in the winter as well! Always loved a lake in the winter.

I've always loved the MP5SD and the HK USP 45c . I've yet to shoot a MP5 but as much as I love the USP and VP9 , etc. I just dont shoot them as well as other guns. Regardless of what you go with outside of Hi-Point you are better off with just about anything over the P320. Harder and harder to find a range that even allows them anymore.

my 17' tracker is rated for 4 and I have done 3 adults and 1 kid and it was about 1 kid too many. 3 can be delt with but I'm not all that happy as I would be with just 2. I'm less worried about that and more worried about all the over crowded wake and pontoon boats I see once June/July hits.

About matches what I've seen when I throw a gilly by nests.

that's pretty cool to wintness!

not mine either but you ever think about how old the water we fish and swim in is...

Hope it all goes well! Just 6 months to go through your gear and upgrade what you need/want!

sycolajee!...I don't need no devil man up in my head! I've never really left a lure for dead but things I throw significantly less than some newer favorites are: -Purple curly tail worm -crankbaits -spinnerbaits If you go back to when I first got here I had multiple spinnerbaits tied on at a time and couldnt put one down. One season they just stopped hitting them like they used to and quite honestly it got boring and repetitive to throw one. Crankbaits and Rapalas worked great for me but my break off rate started getting expensive when I was throwing them where I wanted them and got the best bites. Wasn't a fan of dropping $15-40 a weekend depending on what I used. Throwing them in less risky areas wasn't as successful and got boring. Purple worm was basically all I used along with a jitterbug my entire fishing life up until about 25yo. I always carry them but I don't throw it but a handful of times a year in favor of creature baits.

I still have a mojo bass from the first year they came out and I've used that rod in just about every wrong way you can think of and it still is trucking along. I also have a hand full of others including a newer Victory. None with as much use as the mojo but all have been perfectly fine. Only rod I managed to break was a Berkley Lightning rod when fighting a frog out of some really heavy reeds. It was a "on vacation" purchase that just happened to work really well with frogs. Was honestly a little upset it broke...

I'm with the majority, was going to say $50 to $75 a cut depending on the area you are in and how much weed eating youll have to do. More weed wacker time the closer I'd get to $75.

I fish very similarly to you and I've been holding off on Mega360 for a bit. I feel the same though, being able to spot lock and cast to structure more accurately and efficiently would really improve my game. Of course...my buddy is trying to get me to go livescope but I'm not sold yet. That seems like it steps up the "work" in fishing and I want to enjoy it.

Depends on how strong the wind is and what type of lure I'm fishing. If I'm running a frog, swim jig, crank baits, fluke I'll usually drift or drive along with my TM to cover shoreline and cover spots. If I'm trying to fish a t-rig, jig, etc. I'll spot lock on a place because I want to know exactly what my lure is doing and not wonder if its just dragging over something as I drift. I tend to fish lighter weights than most though, I'm sure if I bumped my weight up to like 1/2oz or 3/4oz or higher I could be fine drifting. If I'm fishing open water I'm 9/10 spot locked on a ridge or cover and fishing thoroughly until I exhaust the water column and move on.

Sounds like you are doing a good job getting her the care she needs AJ. Keep it up!